www.Biz2BizNWA.com 11
The Street Team,” he adds, “ was
everywhere!”
Edelstein and his inside team–
who hail from Cleveland, New
Jersey, Buffalo, Western New York,
Iowa, and Huntsville, Alabama –
now call Northwest Arkansas home.
“I made it a point to assemble
a team with a good mix of local
people born and raised in North-
west Arkansas and also industry-
good things.” knowledgeable people who have
Professional sports do, indeed, make
worked for minor league teams around
a good match to giving. “Sometimes
the country. We bring ideas we’ve seen
people like something tangible even
in other places.
when they are giving. Here they can feel “Our goal here is to be one of the best,
good about giving to a charity, but they and to have people from our industry
can also go to a ball game. We work respect us as guys who do it right. From
hard to figure out how everybody wins. the community perspective, I like to think
There can be no loser in these deals. that we are as progressive as there is out
Everybody’s got to feel like they gener- there, with room to grow.”
ated something good.”
Edelstein admits the economy
impacted them in 2009, but more on big-
ticket items, he claims. Advertisers, while
greater in number, typically made smaller
investments.
“There’s less left over, but with our Autism Awareness
mindset to create wins for everybody, it
doesn’t necessarily stop us. Whatever a
The word from the National
charity puts into it, they get out of it. And
Autism Association is that
it’s endless. Anything that becomes an
Austism is not a hopeless situ-
endless pot of money is what we’re trying ation, but a treatable disease.
to create. It’s sustainable charity.” Autism affects one in 91 U.S.
Pulling from their own marketing
children; one in 58 boys.
budgets to serve charitable giving, The
As with many diseases,
Naturals created The Street Team, which
awareness is key. Names and
includes a second mascot and inflatable
Numbers and Northwest
pitching machine. Arkansas Naturals host an
“People would ask us to make an ap-
Autism Awareness Night at
pearance but if we were having a game,
Arvest Ballpark in
all of our resources were tied up. We
the spring.
wanted to create something independent
Watch this NAA
of our day-to-day baseball team that can
video for warning
still be out there to help when needed. signs.
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